An Australian Werewolf in Eureka
by Wyndes
Summary: In the new timeline, what was Jo's relationship with Taggart? A Jo/Zane romantic fantasy wrapped in a episode-like story line. Concludes at Chapter 14.
1. Chapter 1

Title: An Australian Werewolf in Eureka

Disclaimer: Not my characters, of course, and no copyright infringement intended.

A/N: This takes place after _Better Late Than Never_ and is going to be episode-ish. I have every intention of progressing the Zane/Jo storyline in it, but wanted to wrap that in a show-like storyline.

* * *

Carter crouched next to the burnt-out campfire, frowning at the cold ashes. Picking up a stick, he poked through the embers looking for warm coals, than cautiously let his hand hover over the cinders. He felt no residual warmth: this fire was thoroughly extinguished. It might have been there for days.

Standing up, he turned to his deputy. "What do you think, Andy?"

"There are no heat signatures in the vicinity, Sheriff, but my range in this environment is not extensive," his robot deputy replied apologetically.

"Well, someone's clearly been camping here. But it could have been a while ago." Carter looked around the clearing in the woods. A flat patch of bare ground was scuffed and smoothed, as if someone had cleared it to put up a tent, but walked on the same patch repeatedly after the tent was taken down. The tracks weren't distinct enough to tell Carter anything about who might have been here, whether it was one person or several, male or female.

He walked back to where Andy was standing, and gazed down at the source of the problem. "Definitely human?" he asked again, almost plaintively. He'd been sure when they'd gotten the anxious call that had brought them out here that he was going to find a spot where a hunter had taken down an animal, maybe a deer. But the caller had insisted, saying that a hunter would have field-dressed a kill, leaving plenty of animal traces behind, and that this was just blood. Too much blood.

"I'm afraid so, Boss." Andy replied with his customary cheer. "Unfortunately, I can't DNA-type it, but I have collected a sample to bring back to GD."

"Take some pictures, too," said Carter, frowning down at the bloody patch of dirt. "How much blood do you think is here?"

"Oh, I'd say half a liter, at most. The ground is hard-packed, so very little of it has been absorbed. Not nearly enough to have been—ah, terminal, so to speak. Not unless the human was very small."

Carter shot Andy a sharp glance. "We haven't had any missing children reports, have we?"

"No, no, not at all. Didn't mean to worry you, Sheriff," Andy chuckled.

"Well, then, let's not borrow trouble," Carter clapped Andy on the shoulder. He gave one last look around the clearing. "See anything else interesting? Or is this just a weird patch of blood on the ground in an otherwise empty clearing?"

"Hmm, when you put it that way, Sheriff, it does sound quite mysterious. However, perhaps our mystery will be quickly cleared up: the lower branches of that coniferous tree appear to have some animal fur caught on them." Andy pointed out the tree in question and both man and robot stepped closer.

"Huh," Carter carefully removed a bit of fur from the branch and examined it. "Can you tell what it is?"

Andy quickly scanned the soft gray fuzz. "Indeed. This is fur from a canis lupus."

"A canis lupus? A wolf?" Carter was no Latin expert, but even he recognized the formal name of the gray wolf. "In Eureka? I didn't know we had wolves here."

"The Canadian gray wolf is an endangered species in the United States, but there are a few packs in the Pacific Northwest. And wolves can roam for hundreds of miles: it's not out of the question that there could be a wolf in Eureka." As always, Andy was a fount of information. The database stored in his head made that inevitable.

"Great, so now we have a patch of human blood and a scrap of wolf fur. You know, Andy, I don't have a good feeling about this." Carter scratched his head.

"All right," he said, suddenly decisive. "Let's head back to the road. Hunting blindly through the woods isn't going to get us anywhere. We should pay a visit to the hiker who called this in and see if he heard anything or saw anything besides the blood, and we should get that blood sample back to GD and get it tested."

The buzz of his cell phone interrupted him, and he swiftly pulled it out of his pocket. Glancing at the screen, he answered with an automatic smile in his voice. "Alison, hi."

"Jack, I'm so glad I caught you," Carter's smile quickly faded as she continued. "Tesla just called. Kevin didn't make it to school this morning." Almost involuntarily, Carter glanced back at the blood.

"You've tried his cell?"

"Tesla doesn't allow cell phones to be on during the day, so Kevin's phone is usually off. I'm…well, I'm worried, of course, but I'm not panicking. Not yet, anyway. But I'm going to head home and see if he's still at the house. Jenna had a doctor's appointment this morning, so we left early: maybe he fell back asleep. But could you check the road to Tesla? See whether his bike got a flat or something?"

"Absolutely, I'm on my way. I'll send Andy to the school, too, and have him just check in there. Maybe one of Kevin's friends knows if he was going to stop on his way to school for something."

"Let me know you as soon as you—" Alison's voice faltered, as if the fear she was suppressing had suddenly surged to the surface, but then she continued firmly. "Call me the minute you find him."

"I will. And…try not to worry." Closing his phone, Carter glanced over at Andy. "Did you—"

"Heard the whole thing, boss. I'll head for Tesla."

Once in his car, Carter headed slowly down the road, driving a sedate 20 miles per hour as his eyes scanned the scenery on either side of the road. Suddenly, he hit the brakes. "Whoa!"

That was one huge…dog? It was mostly white leaning towards gray, decidedly fluffy, but one of the biggest dogs Carter had ever seen. It had to be at least 150 pounds.

The canine was sitting by the side of the road, mouth slightly open, ears alert, eyes on the car. As Carter slowed and then stopped his jeep, the dog—if it was a dog—stood and stretched, then dropped on its front legs, with back legs still up, as if it was bowing. It was the classic dog invitation to play. It gave a quick little shake of its rear, then turned and leapt over the roadside ditch and headed into the woods.

"Wow," Carter opened the car door and stepped out. He wasn't about to follow the creature into the woods, but he wanted to take a closer look, maybe see if it had left tracks. He wished he'd thought to grab a picture before it had disappeared.

"Jack?" The voice was plaintive, but distinct, the sound coming from right nearby.

"Kevin? Kevin!" Carter plunged down the slight incline into the ditch. Kevin was lying, flat on his back, his bicycle wedged on top of him. "Are you okay?"

"I went over the handlebars," Kevin's face was dirty and bloody but lit with relief at the sight of Carter. "I think I broke something. It hurts like hell, but that dog wouldn't let me get up. Whenever I try to move the bike, it growls at me. And it kept licking me!"

"Huh," Carter looked thoughtfully in the direction the dog had gone. "I don't usually take advice from dogs, but let's call you an ambulance and get you checked out before you start moving around."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: An Australian Werewolf in Eureka

Disclaimer: Not my characters, of course, and no copyright infringement intended.

A/N: Again, this takes place after the first half of Season 4, including _I'll Be Seeing You_, and after my first story, _Better Late Than Never_. It'll make more sense if you've read that one, but if you haven't, the short summary is that Zane figured out and Jo has confirmed the whole alternate reality thing.

* * *

Scene 2

Jo hated being a coward. It just wasn't her style. If she had trouble, she wanted to face it head on, kick it in the ass, spit on its carcass, and move on.

This was why she was, damn it, getting a Vinspresso today. No more being a coward. She'd avoided Café Diem for the past three days, but enough was enough. She couldn't run away forever.

She took a deep breath, and pushed open the door. Quickly, her gaze skimmed the restaurant, and, of course, there he was, seated in the back, out of line of sight of the door. His dark head was bent over his laptop, his face engrossed in whatever he was looking at on his screen. She looked away hurriedly, and slid into a seat at the counter.

"Jo!" Vincent's voice rang out and she flinched. "We haven't seen you for a few days; have you been feeling okay?"

"Oh, yeah, um, fine," she smiled and nodded. "Just…busy, you know. Very busy. Could I just get a quick Vinspresso, Vince? To go?"

"One Vinspresso, coming up," Vincent said cheerfully, and turned back to the espresso machine, just as the bell on the door jingled and another customer entered the café .

Jo's back was straight, her head up, and she was waiting. And wishing she had eyes in the back of her head. Was he standing up? Was he walking over? Was he looking at her? Had he even heard Vincent or was he still oblivious, totally focused on his work?

"Jo, hi," Zoe's friendly voice startled Jo into actually jumping. If she'd had her coffee already, she would have spilled it. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Wow, you were a thousand miles away. Where have you been? I haven't seen you in days. I keep asking S.A.R.A.H. and you're always at work already or not back yet. What's going on there that's keeping you so busy?"

"Ah, Zoe, hey."

Inwardly, Jo was cringing. Maybe cowardice had been the better strategy. Being in the same place as Zane and Zoe at the same time ranked above basic training, above going to the dentist, even above being in GD in the middle of a zombie rage riot, on her personal hierarchy of situations to avoid. Ever since Zane had confronted her in her office, she'd been assiduously avoiding both of them. Could a Vinspresso possibly be worth it?

"I—ah, can't really talk about it." She smiled artificially at Zoe. Score! Being able to fall back on "it's classified" as an excuse for not talking could come in handy. "Nothing to worry about, though," she hastily added. In Eureka, things you couldn't talk about sometimes meant the town was on the verge of destruction and she didn't want to scare Zoe, she just didn't want to talk to her.

"Well, any chance you can come home early tonight?" Zoe asked, sitting down on the stool next to Jo and swinging it around. "I have to head back to Harvard soon and I really want a chance to hang out with you before I go." Her words trailed off as she spotted Zane. Putting one hand on Jo's arm, Zoe said, "I really do want to hang out with you, and I hope you can make it home early tonight, but I also really want to talk to Zane. Do you mind if I—, " she gestured with her head to indicate Zane.

"No, no, not at all," said Jo, hastily, "I have to get to work anyway. You go right ahead. I'll see you later." She studiously did not look behind her, but instead, leaning forward, said to Vincent, "Can you rush that Vinspresso?" as Zoe hopped off the stool and headed across the restaurant toward Zane.

"Hey, stranger," said Zoe, sliding into the seat across from Zane, and giving him her best flirtatious smile.

He looked up, his turn to be startled. "Oh, Zoe, hey," he said, taking her in and then realizing, belatedly, who was sitting at the counter.

"So…did your phone break?" asked Zoe lightly, head tilted charmingly.

"Phone?"

"You know, that device we use to communicate with one another? I've texted you a few times, haven't heard back. What's going on?" Zoe was nothing if not direct.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that." Zane looked uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat and glanced away.

Jo was standing up, almost ready to leave, just saying a few last words to Vincent. Zane opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, his eyes on Jo. He looked back at Zoe and tried to smile, but the smile looked as forced as it felt.

Zoe's eyes narrowed. "I realize my father doesn't want us to…hang out," she said, picking her phrasing carefully, "but has Jo said something to you? That I'm too young or some equally asinine prohibition? Because what I do is none of her-"

"Josephina!" The name boomed through Café Diem, as Taggart strode through the door. Arms wide, he scooped Jo off the floor, and whirled her around in a circle. "Beautiful as ever," he chortled, his long coat flaring behind him. Letting her feet touch the floor, he bent to kiss her.

Jo hastily turned her face, so that Taggart's kiss landed on her cheek instead of her lips. "Tag," she choked out, "What are you doing here?"

Her panicked gaze met Zane's.

"Why I'm here to see you, sweetheart. You stopped writing. I had to check in."

"I stopped writing? I…right, yes, okay." Jo thought furiously. _What the hell did that mean? She'd never written Taggart a letter in her life. _Okay, it was time to return to cowardice as her survival strategy. It might not be her style, but it had been working quite well.

"Hey, Tag, I'm sorry but I'm really late to work. Let's catch up later, okay?" Jo grabbed her coffee cup from the counter and held it between them like a shield.

"All right," Taggart looked surprised, and a little disappointed. "I'll come by the house tonight. What time will you get home?"

"Ah, the house, yes." Taggart was going to come to her house? What was up with that? "Well, actually, my house kind of got blown up. Larry, a rocket…it's a long story. I don't have time to tell it right now. I'll tell you tonight. Why don't we, ah, why don't we meet here. Seven o'clock?" Jo was retreating rapidly, working her way around Taggart, and moving backwards out the door. She waved the coffee cup, as she pushed the door open with her other hand and backed out.

"Tonight, seven o'clock," Taggart confirmed, looking confused, but nodding.

Across the room, Zane stood up abruptly. "I've got to go, Zoe." He grabbed his computer.

"But—," Zoe started.

"We're friends, right?" Zane wasn't smiling.

"Of course," Zoe responded automatically, confused.

"Good," he nodded. "We'll talk soon. Just—I've got to go."

"Okay, bye," Zoe started to say but before the words even left her mouth, Zane was already out the door. "Huh," she frowned. Across the room, Taggart was frowning, too, as he watched Jo reach her car and pull out her keys. Zoe moved to stand next to him, and together the two looked on as Zane caught up with Jo. He was standing in front of her, his back to the window of Café Diem, but it looked as if they were talking.

Outside, Jo was scrambling to unlock her car door. For some reason—could it be nerves? Panic? A first-ever anxiety attack?—she kept fumbling the keys. When Zane appeared next to her, as if out of nowhere, she didn't even take a breath.

"What the hell is my relationship with Taggart?" she whispered furiously, knowing that Zane was blocking the view from Café Diem and no one could see what she was saying.

"Um, I don't know. You were kind of a couple when I first got to Eureka but he's been gone for a while. And you didn't really keep me posted on the ups and downs of your love life."

"We were…what? What?"

Zane grinned at her, his full-blown, cocky, know-it-all grin. "You and Taggart were a couple. Need me to say it slowly? On my first day here, I swiped Carter's credit card info and bought you all this great sexy underwear. It killed me when I realized the Aussie was gonna get to see you in it."

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Jo felt as if she could say nothing but those words, over and over and over again, from now until the end of time. How could this be happening?

She looked at Zane. "You have to find out what our relationship is now. Mine and Taggart's, I mean."

He stopped smiling. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Ask Vincent, of course," Jo snapped out. "I can't ask him, and who else would know?"

"I'm supposed to just casually ask Vincent whether you're sleeping with Taggart?"

"Hush," ordered Jo, smiling fiercely at a passerby who'd glanced over curiously at Zane's raised voice. "Yes," she whispered. "You have to. Who else can? Everyone else that I could ask should already know, so they can't ask, but if you don't know, then you shouldn't know, so you can ask."

"That was insanely convoluted logic, Lupo, but I think I got it." Zane sighed. "You're going to owe me for this," he warned.

Jo punched him, hard, in the shoulder.

"Ow," he said, reeling back and clutching his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"I'm going to repay you by not kicking your ass," said Jo. "Find out for me. And fast. I need to know by seven o'clock tonight."


	3. Chapter 3

Scene 3:

Back at GD, Carter watched Alison working over Kevin from outside the medical lab. Kevin had been brought in on a stretcher, back and neck securely immobilized, but the emergency tech had assured Carter that with Kevin awake, talking, and able to describe the pain, it was just a precaution.

As Carter watched, a huge smile spread across Alison's face, and she brushed Kevin's face lightly with one finger. She put down her portable scanner, and began to undo the restraints and help Kevin up. Carter gave a sigh of relief and entered the lab.

"Hey," he said to both of them by way of greeting, moving forward until he could rest his hand on the small of Alison's back.

She smiled up at him warmly, "Hey, yourself. Thanks for finding him. He's going to be fine: a broken collarbone, some bumps and scrapes—and a great story to tell. Not bad for a morning's work."

"Hey, Jack. I told you that dog was just crazy," Kevin managed a smile, despite the pain.

"Let's get you cleaned up, honey," Alison turned away from Kevin, and started looking for antiseptic wipes.

"So how long was the dog with you?" asked Carter, curious.

"Oh, I don't really know," Kevin started to shrug but then grimaced with pain, and eased his shoulder back down. "It felt like a really long time, but it probably wasn't."

"Did it do anything else weird?" Carter asked.

"Like what?"

"Oh," Carter shrugged himself. "I don't know. Not sure what I'm thinking, really. Had you ever seen it before?"

Kevin shook his head as Alison started to wipe his face clean. "You might need a couple stitches here," she said, her hand on his chin turning his head to the side. "It's worse than I realized at first."

"That dog kept licking me," Kevin said. "I thought it was going to eat me for a minute. It was huge."

"It wasn't aggressive, was it?" Carter asked.

"Nah," Kevin shook his head. "I mean, it kept growling at me when I'd try to move, but when I was lying still, it was friendly. Too friendly, I'm probably covered in dog slobber."

Alison smiled, "A little dog slobber never hurt anyone. I'm going to give you a couple staples to close up this laceration, and then we'll get you a sling for your collarbone. First, though, how about some pain relief?" She picked up a hypodermic from the tray next to her.

"A shot, Mom? Can't I just take some pills?" Kevin complained.

"Now I know you're fine," Carter grinned.

Alison wiped Kevin's arm with an antiseptic, and murmured, "Close your eyes, honey, you won't even notice the sting." Quickly, she injected him.

"Ouch," he said, but it was more rote than real, the pain of the shot not really comparing to the pain of a broken bone.

"Go ahead and lean back. Try to rest. I'll be right back."

Alison and Carter stepped away from the cot, as Kevin obediently lay back against the upraised top half. "Thank you so much, Jack. It's a good thing you didn't see me race back here: you'd have had to pull me over and give me a speeding ticket. I was more scared than I wanted to admit."

"A missing kid is every parent's worst nightmare." Carter gazed down at Alison's upraised face, her warm brown eyes, her lovely cocoa skin. His head tilted very slightly forward, and then he looked around at all the people moving around the lab, and pulled back.

Her smile flashed. She knew what he'd been thinking. Reaching up, she brushed a quick kiss across his lips.

"I'll see you tonight?" he asked quietly.

"Come by the house," she nodded. "I'll cook." She started to move away, heading off to find the staples and the sling.

"Oh, hey, wait," Carter said. "I just remembered, Andy's got some blood we'd like to get tested. And—have you had anyone come in with any serious injuries in the past couple of days?"

"Serious injuries?" Alison shook her head. "Not that I know of, but I can check the logs. I think Kevin's probably the worst injury we've seen this week, though." She leaned over a computer terminal, and quickly clicked through a few screens. Standing up again, she shook her head. "No, no serious injuries. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, we found some blood in the woods. Kind of a lot of blood. But nothing else."

Alison's eyebrows raised. "Thank you for not telling me that earlier," she said fervently. She would not have wanted to hear about mysterious blood puddles while Kevin was still missing.

"Anybody missing from GD?"

Alison shook her head. "You'd have to ask Fargo or Jo," she said, gently. "I really wouldn't know."

"Oh, yeah, right." Carter grimaced a little, realizing he'd again slipped up. Sometimes it was hard to remember that this timeline was different, and that Alison wasn't in charge of GD. "I'll do that."


	4. Chapter 4

Scene 4

"I need a crisis," Jo burst into Fargo's office without knocking.

"What?" Fargo looked up, surprised.

"A crisis, a crisis," Jo repeated urgently. "Surely something is going wrong around this place?"

"Um, so far it seems to be a quiet day," Fargo shrugged. "What kind of crisis are you looking for? And, uh, why?"

"Well, I'd like the kind of crisis that would let me shoot things. But I'll settle for one that will keep me incredibly busy for the next few days. Surely someone at GD is doing something insane." She paced across the office, nervous energy keeping her moving.

"Well, yes, that's probably a safe bet. But nothing has come to my attention yet." Fargo looked back at his computer screen, scrolling down through a lengthy list of emails. "Try Zane," he said absently. "He's always got trouble brewing."

Jo rolled her eyes and glared at Fargo. "Not helpful, Fargo."

"Hell, Mansfield wants a report on the gamma interferon zoological molecular optimization project. That's Dr. Glenn's project," Fargo sighed.

"Dr. Glenn? The vet?" Jo asked, remembering the sweet blond woman who had helped discover the organic chicken that had once poisoned most of GD.

"Yeah," Fargo leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead.

"What's she working on?"

"That's the problem," said Fargo. "It's not my field. In fact, it's so far outside my field that when she tells me about it, it sounds something like blah-blah-blah molecules. That doesn't usually happen to me, and I don't much like it. Especially when I have to come back and regurgitate to Mansfield. "

"Now you know how the rest of us feel," said Jo, wryly, although not unsympathetically. "Cheer up, though, Mansfield probably doesn't understand it any better than you do."

"Ooh, good point," said Fargo, immediately looking happier. He stood up, shrugging to adjust his suit coat, and straightening his tie. "Let's go see her, and you can tell me why you want a crisis on the way."

"It doesn't need to be a big crisis," said Jo, falling into place beside him as he started to walk. "Just something that will keep me really busy for a couple days. Taggart's in town and—"

"Taggart's back?" Fargo interrupted. "Cool."

"Not so cool," Jo said evenly. "Turns out that he and I are…" she searched for the right words.

"Are?" Fargo prompted, curiously, when the pause grew too long.

"I don't know what," Jo refused to meet his eyes. "But I need to find out and quickly. Or, somehow, avoid him until I do."

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good." Fargo glanced around for eavesdroppers and let his voice drop to a whisper, "We really can't let anyone else know. Every extra person in on the secret makes it a little more likely that we'll get caught."

"I know. That's why a nice crisis would come in handy."

"Maybe I can make something up," Fargo mused, as they entered the rotunda. "Some emergency lock down that traps you in GD quarantine for a couple of days. Maybe a virus?"

"Ooh, that sounds perfect," Jo said, gesturing enthusiastically.

"Ah, just the people I wanted to see," Carter jogged up the couple of stairs from the elevators. "But—virus? Is there something I should know?"

"No, no," said Fargo, waving the question off. "Or, well, yes," he added, looking at Jo. "But maybe not right now."

"Jo?" Carter looked at her questioningly.

She grimaced and said, "I'll tell you later. You wanted to see us? Please tell me you have a nice minor crisis for me, just something to keep me trapped in GD for the next couple of days?"

"Uh, no," said Carter, "Kevin was in a little bike accident and broke his collarbone, and that's why I'm here. But I wanted to check something else out, too. I think it's probably nothing."

"Ouch," said Fargo.

"Oh, poor Kevin," added Jo. "Broken collarbones are miserable."

"What did you want to check out?" asked Fargo, pausing in the center of the rotunda.

"Is anyone missing from GD?" Carter asked.

"Not that I know of," Fargo looked taken aback. "But that doesn't sound minor. A missing scientist is serious business. We'd need to alert the DoD and-"

"Yes," said Carter, acknowledging the point. "Sorry, I shouldn't have made that sound so quite so dramatic. I don't have a missing scientist on my hands, just an unidentified pool of blood in a clearing in the woods."

"Uh, that still sounds kind of dramatic," said Fargo.

"Wouldn't it be animal blood?" asked Jo. "There are plenty of hunters around here."

"Andy says it's human." Carter shook his head. "It's probably nothing. Maybe someone accidentally cut themselves, but managed to bandage it up and get to a doctor."

"Was there a blood trail?" asked Jo.

"No," replied Carter.

"Well, that sounds kind of implausible, then." Jo looked skeptical. "Someone bleeds, badly enough to leave a lot of blood, but then manages to bandage it up so they're not even dripping? That's unlikely, Carter."

"Yeah, I don't like it much either. And—even weirder—Andy found some fur from a wolf in the clearing."

"A wolf?" repeated Jo, at the same time as Fargo said, "Eureka has wolves?"

They glanced at each other. Fargo raised his eyebrows as Jo's mouth twisted, and they both said simultaneously, "Taggart."

"Taggart?" Carter questioned.

"He's in town," Jo confirmed.

"Excellent," Carter grinned. "It's always great to see Taggart. Oh! But you mean he might have brought a wolf with him?"

"Could be," Fargo glanced at his watch.

"I"ll check with him. Did you see him? Did he show any signs of recent injuries? Maybe the blood is his?" Carter was asking Fargo, but with a wave of his hand, Fargo deferred the question to Jo.

"I ran into him at Café Diem," Jo said, "And no, he didn't look injured. But Carter…" she looked around the rotunda, trying to judge if any of the passersby were paying attention to them, and then stepped a little closer to Carter.

Dropping her voice, she said, "My relationship with Taggart is—not the same." She looked at him to see if he understood what she was trying to say. He was frowning, not understanding. She looked at him intently, meaningfully, waiting for him to read her mind.

"Oh!" he finally got it. "Oh." He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"If you could, without giving anything away, find out, um, I don't know, what the status is…or…well…"

"I get the idea," Carter nodded, letting Jo off the hook.

"Then we'll go back to inventing viruses that'll keep Jo trapped in GD," Fargo said, impatiently bouncing on his toes. "We do have to get moving, though, I have to get a report to Mansfield within the hour."

"Don't worry, Jo. Does Taggart know you're living at S.A.R.A.H.? I'll tell him no overnights while my impressionable minor daughter is at home." Carter grinned. Jo glared. And Fargo grabbed her sleeve and dragged her away across the rotunda.


	5. Chapter 5

Scene 5

"Come on, Carter, pick up." Jo was sitting in her car, half a block away from Café Diem, cell phone to her ear. She'd decided, reluctantly, that faking a crisis was just going to get her in more trouble in the long run. After all, she had to face Taggart eventually.

But when she'd made that decision, she'd been counting on Zane and Carter telling her what she needed to know. Like, oh, most importantly, was Taggart in love with her? Did he think she was in love with him? Were they sleeping together? She didn't need all the details, but some idea of how Taggart would be expecting her to behave would go a long way toward easing her nerves.

And what was the deal with the letters? If Taggart had been writing to her, she would have known. She would have seen his letters and had at least some warning about this relationship. If it was a relationship.

"Damn it, Carter." She sighed, and pushed End, then dialed Zane's number. For the fourth time, she got his voice mail, and for the fourth time, she hung up without leaving a message. He'd be able to see that she'd called from the Caller ID and what could she say in a message? Save me from my unknown past?

She glanced at the time on the phone. 7:02. Okay, she was just going to have to go in blind. She could do this. It'd be fine. Worst-case scenario? Well, it wasn't likely that anything she said would mean Taggart was going to immediately guess that she'd travelled in time and wound up in an alternate universe and reveal her to the government, so hey, how bad could it be?

As she stepped out of her car, Zane pulled up behind it on his motorcycle. "Hey," he said, "hold up."

_Thank God_, Jo thought. "What did you get for me?" she said urgently, stepping close to him.

"Hello usually comes first," he said irritably, pulling off his helmet and stashing it on the seat behind him.

"What?" he asked, seeing the expression on her face.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "Just—don't you ever answer your phone?"

"Do you want to know this or not?" Zane leaned forward on his motorcycle, making no motion toward getting off it or parking. He was radiating annoyance, and Jo frowned.

She and Zane—the old Zane—fought a lot—but Zane didn't really do angry. She did angry and emotional, he did logical and exasperated. It was one of the unchanging constants in their relationship. Like the time that Julia's DNA manipulation had led to Zane believing that Jo had kissed Fargo in the middle of Café Diem—if their positions had been reversed, and Zane had kissed, say, Zoe, in Café Diem, Jo would have killed him. Well, or at least tasered him. But certainly yelled and screamed and thrown things. Zane had just said, "I can't talk to you right now," and walked away. It was strange to see him showing his feelings like this.

"Are you angry?" she asked, cautiously, trying to confirm her impression.

"Yes," he said flatly. "But I have the complete run-down on your relationship with Taggart from Vincent. Do you want to know it or not?"

_No. _What she really wanted to know was why Zane was angry. But "Yeah," she said, "I'm supposed to be in there now."

"You started as friends-with-benefits and then got a little more serious. Then this Alaska project that he's been working on came up, and he asked you to marry him and come to Alaska with him. You said no, to both. Happy?"

_Marry him? Eep. _That was worse than she'd imagined. At least she'd said no. But Zane was already putting his helmet back on, and before she could say anything, even just a thank you, he'd kicked his bike into gear and accelerated away.

She watched him go, frowning. She needed to remember that this Zane was not her Zane. He was harder, tougher, more of a criminal…but all she really wanted was to follow him, find out why he was angry, and fix it. She wanted to make him feel better.

For the moment, though, she'd have to let him go. Taggart was waiting for her inside Café Diem.

Well, sort of waiting for her. As usual with Taggart, he'd gathered an audience. Seated on the low couch, he had a group of eager adolescents and a couple kids listening to the stories of Alaska he was telling. As she walked in, he was in the midst of some tall tale about a polar bear. He spotted her and his eyes lit up and he waved, but continued with his story.

Carter however greeted her immediately. He was standing at the counter, accepting a take-out bag from Vincent. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"I was trying to call you."

"Yeah, I didn't—," he glanced back at Taggart. "I was in the middle of a conversation." His voice dropped. "He's been on some top-secret, ultra-ultra-classified project. He couldn't write, but up until a couple months ago, you wrote him every few weeks. Apparently just chatty, friendly letters. But when you stopped cold, he got worried."

Jo closed her eyes with relief and took a deep breath. Okay. Ex-boyfriend, still friendly. That was a relationship she understood. "Okay," she said. "That's good news, I can handle that."

Carter held up the take-out bag. "I've got to run," he said. "I'm bringing dinner to Alison and Kevin. They've had a long day."

"No problem," Jo nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." She started toward Taggart, and then, remembering, turned back, "Oh, but hey. What happened with the wolf?"

"Oh, right," Carter shrugged. "Taggart says he didn't bring a wolf with him. I've had Andy calling around to the closest hospitals and doctors' offices, but we can't find anyone whose injuries would fit. But when we tested the blood at GD, it turned out it wasn't human after all."

"Andy got it wrong?" Jo was surprised. She didn't exactly love the robot deputy but his instant testing skills had come in handy more than once.

"Alison thinks maybe the sample was contaminated. It tested positive for human hemoglobin, but then the DNA wasn't human. Unless something else shows up, we'll chalk it up to just another weird incident in Eureka and not worry about it."


	6. Chapter 6

Scene 6:

Carter strode up the path to Alison's house, but then paused at the door, feeling suddenly awkward. Should he ring the bell? Or should he walk right in? The move from friendship to romance had been recent and it still felt so new. He didn't want to take too much for granted, but he also didn't feel like a random visitor. His dilemma was solved for him when Kevin pulled open the door.

"About time you got here, man. I'm starving." Kevin reached for the bag Carter was carrying and pulled it out of his hand, immediately turning and heading into back into the house toward the kitchen.

Carter blinked with surprise. In his experience, a broken bone meant an uncomfortable couple of days lying on the couch, either comfortably stoned on painkillers or uncomfortably waiting for the next dose of painkillers. The first thirty-six hours were usually the worst, but Kevin had broken his collarbone barely ten hours ago.

Shrugging, Carter followed Kevin inside. Alison was in the kitchen, unpacking the food with one hand, and feeding Jenna bites of cereal with the other. "Thanks so much for picking this up, Jack. I know I said I'd cook, but it was a long day."

"My pleasure," Carter brushed her cheek with a kiss and then took the bag away from Alison and started unpacking it himself. "I tried to convince Vincent to give us all cheeseburgers and fries, but he didn't think you'd be too happy about that, so you're stuck with his special fettuccine Alfredo and salad."

Alison dimpled, "I think we can handle that."

Kevin slipped into his chair and started rapidly unloading pasta from the take-out container onto his plate.

"Slow down, Kevin," Alison's reproof was half-laughing. "The food's not going to run away."

"I'm just so hungry," Kevin replied, picking up his silverware impatiently.

"You just ate an apple, didn't you?" asked Alison.

"And a bowl of cereal, but I'm starving."

Alison looked worried. She put her hand on Kevin's forehead. "You feel a little warm," she said thoughtfully.

"I'm fine, Mom, just hungry." Kevin pulled his head away. "Can I start, please?"

"Ma! Ma! Ma!" Jenna demanded attention.

"Okay, Jenna, okay. You can have some, too. Go ahead, Kevin." Alison shook her head, and smiled at Carter. "Dinner-time chaos," she said, as she chopped up some fettuccine into baby-size bites and put the pieces on the tray in front of Jenna.

Carter was watching Kevin eat, thoughtfully. "How's your collarbone feeling, Kev?" he asked, trying to make the question sound casual.

"Feels fine," said Kevin, shoveling pasta into his mouth as quickly as possible.

Alison glanced back at Kevin quickly, and paused to watch him. He was using both hands for the pasta, expertly twirling the long strands on his fork against the bowl of his spoon. She looked at Carter. He very slightly raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, sending the silent message, "Yes, I think this is weird, and no, let's not worry Kevin." Alison nodded, and finally slipped into her own seat to grab her share of the pasta.

With dinner over, Kevin disappeared upstairs. Alison and Carter cleaned up together to the tune of Jenna's cheerful babbling. At last, with Jenna happily playing on the floor, they collapsed onto the sofa. Alison tucked herself under Carter's arm, resting her head on his chest.

"I'm so used to worrying about Kevin," she said quietly. "Am I overreacting or am I right to be worried right now, Jack?"

"I don't know," Carter replied honestly. "Not feeling pain from a broken bone isn't the worst thing in the world, but unless you have some really great new drug that you gave him, it's a little unusual. The way he was eating—it was as if it didn't bother him at all. He was barely using the sling."

"I used the ultrasonic transducer on him; it does speed healing. But it's not magic, and it can't repair a broken bone in a day."

"I'm not sure we can do anything except keep an eye on him. If you wanted to, we could take him into GD and you could run tests on him tonight, of course. But what would you be looking for?"

"We could run another scan, see if his collarbone is still broken," Alison suggested, before laughing. "And just saying that out loud makes me realize how ridiculous I'm being. Kids heal fast, but not that fast. He must have just had a good reaction to the painkiller. And worrying because he's feeling fine is silly."

She tilted her head so that she could look up into his eyes. "It's almost Jenna's bedtime. How about I put her to bed while you find us some nice escapist television? Then we can pretend we're watching TV while we make out on the couch until Kevin's bedtime."

"That sounds like heaven," Carter said, tightening his arm around Alison, and pulling her close for a long, slow, sweet kiss.

Upstairs, Kevin was hot. Too hot. He'd gone up to his room to play a little Xbox, maybe talk to Dre, but he couldn't concentrate. It was just so uncomfortable. The sling itched and there was sweat dripping down his face.

He pressed his face against the cool glass of his window. That felt better. But he would feel even better if the window was open. He flipped the latch and tried pulling the window up, but he didn't often open his windows this late in the year and it was sticking. Irritably, he pulled off the sling and used both hands.

Ah, that was nice. The cool breeze felt great against his sweaty skin. He took a deep breath. And it smelled great, too. He took another breath. What was that? It was incredible. That smell—it was so rich, so warm, so delectable. It smelled of forest and wild things. He leaned out of the window and took a deeper whiff.

His skin was prickling all over now, itching tremendously, but he didn't care. And his nose—something was dripping from his nose. He wiped it absently, barely registering that it was blood. He pulled his shirt off and held it to his face, trying to mop up the now freely gushing blood, but the shirt reeked of chemicals and soap. He dropped the shirt to the ground next to the window in disgust, ignoring the blood.

He wanted to be outside, outside with the night air and the sounds of the darkness and the amazing smells. Without further thought, he scrambled through the window and as he scrambled, he changed. By the time he landed on the ground and began trotting down the street, his hands and feet were paws, his nose a muzzle, his ears pointed and alert, and he had a glorious tail. Kevin was gone, and instead, a grey wolf was running through Eureka.

Downstairs, Alison broke free from Carter's kiss. She smiled at him. "Let me put the baby to bed. I'll be right back."

"I'll be here," Carter stroked her hair one last time and then let her go.

Smiling to herself, Alison scooped up Jenna and headed up the stairs. Humming lullabies, she carried the baby into her bedroom. Jenna protested slightly when Alison changed her diaper, but as soon as Alison was done and picked her up again, Jenna tucked her head into Alison's neck, heaved a huge sigh, and let her eyelids droop closed. "My sweet girl," Alison murmured, dropping a kiss on the top of Jenna's head as she carefully transferred her into the crib. She pulled a light blanket over her, and whispered goodnight, but Jenna was already out.

As she left the baby's room, Alison glanced at the time. It was barely 8:30, early for Kevin to go to bed, but given his day and his broken collarbone, maybe he'd take a suggestion. And it was probably time for another painkiller for him. She walked down the hallway to his room.

"Carter!" The scream penetrated the house. Within seconds, Carter was bounding up the stairs. Alison was frantically backed up against the wall outside of Kevin's room, hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Carter brushed straight past her to the door of the room, took everything in with a single glance, and then turned and wrapped his arms around her.

"Breathe," he ordered. "Breathe, Ally. It's going to be okay." He turned them both, so that she was facing away from the room and he was facing into it. Holding her close, he ran his hands up and down her back as he tried to make sense of the room and what he was seeing.

"Allison," he said. "Could someone at GD be working on…werewolves?"

"What?" Allison pulled back, looking up at him in surprise. The absurdity of the question was enough to break her out of her shock. "Carter, there's no such thing as werewolves."

"I know, I know, but…could anyone at GD be working on something that could be sort of like something that might look like a werewolf?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Not my characters, I'm just playing with them.

A/N: Have I been utterly predictable so far? This chapter was really hard to write, mostly because it's not very interesting, but I had a bunch of things that needed to happen to set up the next scenes—which I promise will have more Zane. But I'm starting to think that I'm being way too obvious. Feedback appreciated!

**Scene 7:**

"Carter, there's no such thing as werewolves," Jo said firmly.

Taggart looked quizzical.

Dinner was almost over. Jo had been dawdling over her last bites, trying to decide how to handle the inevitable awkward goodbye. The meal had been an oddly mixed pleasure. Taggart was good company, with an endless supply of interesting stories, but Jo felt as if she'd had to work hard to avoid reminiscences of a past that she didn't remember. The ringing of her phone had been a welcome diversion.

"What? Okay, say that again."

Carter's words were finally penetrating her own concerns.

* * *

Jo raced down the winding road to GD. Traffic slowed as a line of cars headed into the parking lot, and Jo resisted the urge to lean on her horn and hurry them up. Most were the members of her security team responding to her alert, but she also spotted Henry's truck and Fargo's sporty blue sedan. But Carter was not so patient: lights flashing, his jeep pulled off the road and drove up the grassy verge and around to the front door of GD.

Inside GD, Carter, Fargo, Jo, and Henry gathered in Henry's lab. Carter passed Kevin's bloody shirt to Henry. "We need to test that blood," he said. "I want to know if it belongs to Kevin as quickly as possible."

"All right, Carter, start from the beginning," said Jo. "My team's gearing up downstairs; as soon as we've all got night vision goggles and tranq guns, we're heading to Alison's to start the search from there. But I need to understand this first—you think Kevin is a wolf?"

"That sounds crazy, doesn't it?" Carter rubbed his face. Leaving Alison behind at the house had been incredibly hard, but someone needed to be there in case Kevin came back. "Maybe it is crazy, but this wasn't an abduction. The window was opened from the inside, and Alison and I were downstairs. There's no way that someone got a kid Kevin's size out that window against his will without making any noise. So that says Kevin went on his own. But he broke his collarbone this morning. How does a kid with a broken collarbone climb out of a window and down a roof? And why? It makes no sense. I've sent Andy to check Kevin's room for fingerprints and DNA trace. If someone else was there, he'll find it, but I don't think there was anyone else there. I think…I think that Kevin left under his own steam but that he's not himself."

"You've eliminated the obvious," Henry agreed, "But werewolves, Jack? That's pretty far-fetched."

"There was fur on the windowsill," said Carter, "and a lot of blood. Just like Andy and I saw in the forest this morning. I know it sounds ridiculous, but Fargo, can you check the files? Just see if anyone is working on a project that might conceivably, remotely, in any way, possibly be able to do something like this."

Fargo looked skeptical, Henry doubtful.

"DNA modification?" asked Jo, with a hint of irony in her voice. She didn't believe in werewolves and she was sure there was a simpler explanation for what had happened to Kevin, but she had personal experience with unpleasant DNA transformations. "We might want to see if there are any missing genome spectrometers or intramuscular electrode arrays." She used the scientific terminology with precision-she was far too familiar with those specific items from her earlier experience.

"Point well-taken," acknowledged Henry, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Except Julia works for Google, and as far as we know she's never done any work on DNA," protested Fargo.

"Which doesn't mean that no one has been working on it. If Julia could invent something like that, why couldn't someone else?" said Carter.

"All right, I'll go start sorting through projects. It's going to take a while, though. If it exists, it's not nicely named 'werewolf project.' I would already have noticed that." Fargo warned.

"Henry, if you could test the blood? I've also got the fur sample from the windowsill to test. We didn't try to match the fur sample this morning to the blood we found, but if we could try that with these samples, and maybe also see if they're a match to the samples from this morning?"

Henry was nodding in agreement. He'd get started on that right away.

"And Jo," Carter turned to face her directly. "You've got the most important job. You've got to find Kevin, but you also have to make sure when you're out looking that no one hurts any wolves. I know it sounds ridiculous, but sending a bunch of goons with guns out into the woods when Kevin might be out there makes me incredibly nervous."

"My goons are extremely well-trained, Carter. You've got nothing to worry about. We're on it."

* * *

Downstairs, in the security headquarters, Jo gathered her team around her. "Listen up, people, this is important," she barked. "This is a lost child search: our first priority is to find Kevin Blake. I know most of you know him, but we're sending pictures to your phones so you can refresh your memories. We'll start the search from the Blake house. You'll get maps, grids, and search assignments there. If you need the address, you'll find it on your phones."

She looked around the room. There was no way—absolutely no way—that she was telling this group of serious and disciplined men and women that Kevin might be a wolf. Her credibility would be shot forever. But the good news about security people as opposed to scientists? They didn't usually argue. "We're also passing out tranquilizing guns. If you see a wolf, you are to sedate it and call in so we can get it back to GD. Do not—I repeat, do not, under any circumstances—shoot a wolf with anything other than a tranq." She looked at the men and women before her. "If I didn't know that half of you would feel naked without them, I'd make you leave all your weapons here. I won't go that far. But the person who hurts a wolf is spending the rest of their life on midnight to eight desk duty in section 5. And you all know section 5—that life won't be fun and it probably won't be long. Are we understood?"

There were murmurs of agreement and a few chuckles. She fixed one particularly loud laugher with a steely eye, and added, "This is a night search, which is a pain in the ass. It's going to be dark out there, probably pitch-black if we wind up too far from town, and night-vision goggles only go so far. Don't screw up, people."

She looked around the room and nodded. "All right, head on out, and we'll meet up at the Blake house." She glanced at her watch. She needed to change her clothes—she loved her power suit and heels but not for a midnight hike—and grab her own gear. Time to get moving.

* * *

Sometime well after midnight, Jo sat down for a break. She didn't want to admit it, but the search wasn't working. The problems had started from the very beginning. She'd arrived at the Blake house just after the search-and-rescue dogs, in time to see them refuse to track. As far as the rescue dogs were concerned, Kevin was still in his bedroom. That left the search entirely up to the human beings. But the humans believed they were looking for a lost kid: that meant the search grids and the focus were limited to a feasible distance for a 14-year old boy on foot to travel. If Kevin really was a wolf, he'd probably moved outside that range in the first twenty minutes that he was missing.

Jo shook her head and pulled out her phone. It was time to get decisive. "Carter," she said when he picked up.

"Anything?" he asked.

"No," she said flatly. "We need to start trying to track a wolf, instead of a lost boy. And I'm going to have to send people home to rest first. It's been six hours—they can't keep going forever. Plus, I can't explain why they should stay up all night to hunt a wolf. We need to change the way we're searching, and treat it as a hunt, not a search."

"I'm sorry, Carter," she added. "We should have done it that way from the beginning."

"No, don't second-guess yourself. At least we've eliminated the possibility that Kevin was feverish and wandered away somehow."

"Oh, so you weren't as sure about the wolf as you seemed?" Jo was surprised.

"Put it this way, I figured there was room for reasonable doubt. I mean, werewolves? It's crazy." Carter's voice sounded tired.

"Has Henry or Fargo found out anything?"

"The blood was similar to the blood in the forest: it had human hemoglobin but unidentifiable DNA. But it wasn't the same unidentifiable DNA. And the fur matches the blood in both cases, but again, not the same DNA."

"So we have two wolves?" asked Jo. "I guess that makes sense. Kevin must have caught it somehow."

"Caught it," Carter repeated, thoughtfully. "Jo, you're brilliant!"

"I am?"

"Fargo didn't find anything but he was looking in the wrong places. This isn't DNA modification the way that Julia did it—if it was, we'd have to believe that someone deliberately wanted to turn Kevin into a wolf and why would anyone do that? This has to be an accident, which means it's contagious, not deliberate. We need to be looking at diseases or viruses or…I'm going to wake up Fargo, he needs to look in a different direction."

"Fargo's asleep?" Jo was a little envious. It had been a long night.

"He fell asleep on his computer a while ago. I hope Alison's sleeping, too—I convinced her that someone was going to have to be awake for Jenna tomorrow. But we're all going to need to get some rest. Go ahead and tell your team to head home. We'll regroup at GD in the morning. Maybe by then Fargo will have found us something."

"I'll let them know. And Carter?" she added. "We'll find him."

As she slipped her phone back in her pocket, Jo gave the orders to the entire group over her communicator. There weren't many murmurs of protests: six hours into the search everyone was tired, and the nighttime search felt futile. But Jo didn't get up right away. The night was still and quiet, especially now that she could no longer hear the distant calling of Kevin's name that had permeated the dark.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, there came a howl. It was plaintive, mournful, and shockingly loud. That wolf was close!

Jo startled to her feet. She slid her goggles back into place and pulled out her tranquilizer gun. Without pause, she headed in the direction of the sound.


	8. Chapter 8

**Scene 8**

"If this is you, Kevin," Jo called out, "You're really annoying me."

The low howl sounded again.

Jo had been following the wolf without catching sight of it all night long. If Andy had been here, she could have found out from him exactly how fast a wolf could travel, but even without Andy she knew that the answer should have been 'fast enough to get away from a human being on foot with ease.' But this wolf always stayed just out of reach and just out of sight. Every time she stopped and thought about giving up, though, it would howl again, the sound mournful and lonely in the night.

"Hey," the voice came from right behind her. Jo whirled around, startled. "Zane?" she pulled her night vision goggles off. The sky was starting to get light in the east, and she could just see his face in the breaking dawn. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he answered, eyes dark, face serious.

"Okay," said Jo, confused. She glanced at her watch," It's seven in the morning. Did you need something?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I—," he shook his head, as if trying to decide whether to speak, and then continued, his voice almost annoyed. "I just wanted you to know I didn't like that."

Jo bit her lip, "Didn't like…?" she started.

"Hearing about you and Taggart. I didn't like that at all," Zane took a step closer, and almost involuntarily, Jo's gaze dropped to his lips. Without hesitation, Zane reached for her, sliding his hand around to the back of her neck, and pulling her to him, his other hand dropping to the small of her back.

Her mouth opened under his and her hands slid up his chest to his shoulders and then encircled his neck as she brought him even closer. They feasted on each other's mouths, lips clinging, shifting, nibbling. Jo arched, head falling back under the passion and strength of his kiss, the warmth of his mouth. He slid his mouth down the line of her neck and then paused.

With one finger, he traced the line of the gold chain around from the back of her neck and down, and then looped his finger under it, and pulled it out from where it was hidden under her jacket and sweater. The diamond ring dangled at the end of the chain, sparkling in the first rays of the sun. "You're wearing it," he said, voice husky.

"I—you gave it back to me the other day," Jo shrugged defensively. "I didn't want to leave it lying around." The interruption was bringing her back to herself. What was she doing?

"Don't ruin it," he shook his head and then took her mouth again with even greater intensity, running his hands along the lines of her body, and then sliding them around to her back, pulling her into him. For a second, she thought, _I need to stop this _and then she fell into his kiss, losing herself in the sensations of his touch.

His hands were fumbling at the fasteners of her jacket, and impatiently he pushed the sleeves off her shoulders. She let it fall to the ground, as she pulled his shirt free from his pants, and slid her hands up into the warmth of his skin. For a moment, two, three, there was nothing but feelings, nothing but fast panting breaths between kisses, and the lovely liquid heat rising within her, but he was tugging at her sweater, pulling it over her head, she raising her arms to make it easier, and the cool air on her bare skin brought her back to herself.

"Zane, we can't—," she started, only to pause as he groaned.

"Black lace? Really? Knowing that is going to kill me every day," he whispered into her mouth, as one hand rose to cup her breast and the other slid down her back to pull her firmly into his hardness. She couldn't help a breathy chuckle, but it was quickly followed by a whimper as his thumb stroked against her sensitive skin.

"Zane, we—Zane!" Jo screamed his name as the wolf slammed into Zane's side, carrying him ten feet across the leafy ground, and landing on top of him. The wolf was growling and snapping, and Zane was trying to roll, while Jo quickly dropped to the ground and scrambled for her tranq gun. She'd slipped it into the pocket of her jacket earlier, and it had fallen to the ground when Zane had slipped the jacket off her. A part of her cursed her own carelessness even as she fumbled for the pocket.

As the gun slid into her hand, she stood and whirled back to face the wolf, but there were two wolves now, one a brownish gray and one white, both snarling. She snapped off a quick shot at the closer of the two, the brown one, and then reloaded, hands now steady and competent. Zane and the white wolf were rolling, Zane trying to force the canine's head away from him with his hands, while trying to get his legs up so that he could shove the wolf's body away with the strength of his legs. They were moving so quickly that she couldn't get a clear shot.

The brown wolf had twisted, and was biting at the dart on its flank. Abruptly, it stopped, gave a whimper, and then collapsed. The white wolf leapt off of Zane and turned, seeing what had happened. Jo took careful aim, and fired, but the wolf flattened itself to the ground and the dart flew over its head.

The white wolf looked at Jo with the equivalent of a doggie grin, mouth open and tongue hanging out, and then rose from the ground, turned, and raced away as Jo was sliding a third dart into the gun.

"I missed," Jo stared at her gun in disbelief. "I missed," she said again. "I have the most marksmanship titles in special forces history. I never miss."

"You got one of them," Zane pushed himself up off the ground, wincing.

"Are you okay?" Jo let go of her shock—although she knew she'd be rethinking that shot every night before falling asleep for years—and rushed to his side. "Are you hurt?"

"Not really, no," he said, shaking his head and staring after the wolf. "I mean a little banged up and bruised, but that thing was huge. If it had wanted to hurt me, I'd be seriously hurt."

"Your hand's bleeding," Jo realized.

Zane glanced at it. "It's nothing," he said. "I was trying to get its teeth away. But it really wasn't trying to hurt me." He gazed in the direction the wolf had gone. "Okay, that was just weird. What the hell is going on, Lupo? What are you doing out here?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Scene 9**

"_Okay, that was just weird. What the hell is going on, Lupo? What are you doing out here?"_

Jo opened her mouth to try and answer—it wasn't going to be a quick response—and then paused, suddenly realizing what was truly strange about this, stranger even than being attacked by a wolf or two. "I'll tell you," she said, "As soon as you tell me. How the hell did you find me? I'm in the middle of nowhere and it's barely sunrise."

"Ah, just lucky?" Zane tried to look innocent.

"No. Try again."

Zane sighed. He pulled out his phone and tapped the touch screen, and then holding the phone up as if he was making a call, said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Turning the phone, he handed it to Jo.

She looked at the touch screen. A little blinking dot said Lupo below it in script, with numbers next to it. "It looks better when we're closer to town," said Zane. "And it looks great in GD. Look." He finger swiped the touch screen, and it zoomed out, revealing itself to be a map of Eureka. More dots appeared, bearing labels for Carter, Fargo, Andy, and other GD employee names, with a heavy emphasis on the names of her GD security team.

"What is this?" asked Jo.

"It's my marauder's map app," Zane replied. "I hacked the GPS database a while ago and made a tracking app that uses the signals from your phones to let me know where you are. I call in, use the password, and the system downloads your location. Well, the location of your phone, technically, but you security-conscious types always have your phones on you. The numbers are our coordinates."

Jo's mouth dropped open. Closing it with a snap, Jo said, "I am so arresting you for this. That's completely illegal!"

He grinned at her. "Aw, come on, Jo-jo. I told you, now you get to tell me. What's going on and what was up with that wolf?"

Jo glanced over at the brown wolf, collapsed on its side just a few feet away. "It's a really, crazy story, and I'm not sure I believe it myself," she started to say, but then the wolf started to twitch. Its legs began to jerk spasmodically and its back arched, before it went into a full-blown convulsion.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Jo rushed to the wolf's side and fell to her knees beside it. She looked up at Zane, "We've got to get him to a vet. As quickly as possible."

"The road's that way," Zane gestured. "It's not too far, but I'm on my bike. Where's your car?"

"Too far away," Jo replied. She was crouching over the wolf, with no idea what to do as it spasmed again and again, saliva foaming on its muzzle, its back arching so hard it looked as if it would break. "What are those coordinates?" She pulled out her phone.

"Come on, Carter, pick up, pick up," she chanted, as his phone rang.

"Jo?" Carter's voice was wide-awake.

"I've got him, Carter, but I need a vet. You've got to get a vet here, as quickly as possible, " Jo said frantically.

"Where? Where are you?"

Zane held his phone out so that Jo could see the map and the numbers under her name. She rattled them off to Carter.

"It's right off Bohr Road," Zane added. "We can try to get him down to the road."

"Did you hear that?" Jo asked.

"Was that Zane?" Carter asked.

"Never mind that, Carter. We need a vet, right now. He's having convulsions and—Carter, this is bad. Get here as quickly as you can." Jo clicked off and shoved the phone into her jeans pocket. The convulsions were easing off but the wolf's eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow and light.

Jo slid her arms under the wolf's neck and hindquarters and tried to pick him up. She could almost get him off the ground, but he was big and unwieldy, and she'd never manage to carry him for long.

"Here," Zane had her jacket and was laying it flat on the ground, stretching it out to its farthest extent. "Roll him onto this, and we can carry him together." Jo rolled and pushed and slid, until finally she had the wolf entirely on the jacket. She grabbed one side, Zane grabbed the other, and together they lifted the wolf off the ground and began lurching toward the road.

They struggled through the woods, Jo trying to watch her footing and watch the wolf at the same time. If it regained consciousness and attacked, they'd be in big trouble: her tranq gun was back where they'd started and there was no way she was pulling out her ankle gun and actually shooting this wolf. She still wasn't sure it was Kevin but it wasn't a chance she was willing to take. This was bad enough. She was reminded of the threat she'd made to her security team the night before: she was going to have to put herself on section 5 duty if the wolf was hurt. Oh, no. Had it stopped breathing?

"Is it breathing?" she demanded, out of breath and gasping from the strain of carrying it.

"Ah, can't say," said Zane, sounding equally breathless.

Jo glanced at him. He wasn't watching the wolf. She glanced down and then rolled her eyes. When they'd picked up the wolf, they'd each taken a long side of the coat, so there wasn't a lot of space between them. They were separated by only the width of the wolf, not its length. And she, of course, had never put her sweater back on after taking it off earlier.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked poisonously.

"You have no idea how much," Zane answered honestly. "Between the cold and the exertion and the black lace—honestly, the black lace is just killer, but that bead of sweat that's rolling down from your neck is driving me insane. I don't think I've ever seen anything so hot. I just want to lick it off you."

Jo felt a wave of heat rush up her body and she flushed. "Oh, God. You—you are so infuriating."

"Admit it, Lupo. You want me to lick it off almost as much as I want to lick it," Zane's voice had dropped to a rough whisper, part breathlessness and part pure lust.

"Focus," Jo snapped at him, mostly because yes, if she let herself admit the truth, she'd drop the damn wolf and jump Zane where he stood. "Is the wolf breathing?"

He groaned and tried to pay attention. "I can't tell."

"Oh, God," Jo said and this time it was a prayer instead of a curse. "We need to move faster."

"We're almost there," Zane was watching the wolf now, his blue eyes worried. "What happens if it dies?"

"It can't die," Jo snapped. "It just—it can't."

Finally, they broke out of the trees and into the clearer light of the road. They staggered up the slight hill to the side of the road and lowered their burden. Jo immediately pulled out her phone. Standing, she paced as she called Carter and waited for him to pick up.

Zane bent over the wolf. He stroked its fur, feeling for a heartbeat. Frowning down at it, he looked thoughtful, and then shrugged. Using his sleeve, he wiped the wolf's muzzle clean of the saliva foam from the seizure, and then tilted the wolf's head back. Holding the mouth closed, he forced a long breath of air into its nose. He pulled back, waited three seconds, and tried it again. With his breath, the chest of the wolf rose and fell, but it still didn't seem to be breathing on its own. Zane kept going, breathing steadily for the wolf.

They could hear a siren in the distance growing louder until at last Carter's jeep came around the closest curve in the road, and came screeching to a halt. Dr. Glenn, a small blond woman in her mid-40s, tumbled out the side door, almost before the jeep had come to a complete stop, and ran to the wolf.

"Keep going," she said to Zane, as she began working on the wolf. "He's not breathing?"

"No," said Zane, between breaths. "But I got a heartbeat a minute ago, so he's not gone yet."

"What happened?" Dr. Glenn asked as she ran her scanner over the wolf. "I'm not finding any injuries."

"It was a tranquilizing dart from a Manning X42," Jo answered. She was hovering above them anxiously, Carter next to her.

"I don't care about the type of gun. What kind of dart was it?" Dr. Glenn was listening to the wolf's lungs now, and shaking her head.

"It's in the pocket of the jacket."

Dr. Glenn slipped her hand under the wolf and into the pocket of Jo's jacket, pulling out the extra darts. "Etorphine? But the dosage is okay for a wolf, I don't know why that would cause this," she frowned.

"What if—what if it wasn't really a wolf?" asked Carter.

Dr. Glenn looked up at him. Zane stopped breathing for the wolf as he too looked up curiously.

"Keep breathing," ordered Dr. Glenn, looking back at Zane. "You're what's keeping him alive right now."

Turning back to Carter, she said, "'I'm not sure what you mean. Etorphine wouldn't be my first choice for any canine—it's really pretty strong stuff, better for bears. But the dosage on this dart should be fine. As long as you only shot him once?" she looked at Jo, and Jo nodded.

"What if you used it on a human being, though?" Carter persisted.

"Well, it's fatal for human beings. It causes respiratory failure." She looked back at the wolf. "And that is what's happening here." She reached for her bag.

Jo paled and turned away, Carter looked as if he'd been hit in the stomach. "Is there an antidote?" he asked urgently.

Dr. Glenn nodded, as she pulled a hypodermic out of her kit. "Diprenorphine. I'm giving it to him immediately, but if that's the problem, he's going to return to consciousness almost right away." She injected the wolf, and then pulled back one eyelid to check it.

"Yes," she said, "that's going to do it. Are we letting him loose or are you trying to capture him for some reason? Because if you want to keep him, you should get him into the back of the jeep quickly. He's going to be awake and moving within a couple minutes."

"Can I stop breathing for him now?" Zane asked, a little plaintively.

"Yes," nodded Dr. Glenn. "And good job on that. How did you know that it would work? Not too many people are ready to give mouth-to-mouth to a wild animal."

Zane shrugged. "Seemed like the thing to do."

"Can you help me lift him?" asked Carter. Together, Carter and Zane carried the wolf around to the back of the jeep and loaded him in. Closing the door, Carter turned to Zane. "I don't suppose you know what you've done, really, but…"

Zane rolled his eyes. "Whatever it is, I am not responsible. I may have let a few monkeys out of cages, but setting predators free is not my thing. "

Carter laughed and shook his head. "Wrong way around this time." Reaching out, he clasped Zane's arm and hand in both of his. "I owe you one. A huge one. And I won't forget."

Dr. Glenn was already climbing back into the jeep, turned around in the front seat so that she could watch the wolf's return to consciousness. "Hurry, Sheriff Carter, " she called."We need to get him into a safer place. He could hurt himself back there if he gets too agitated."

Carter nodded. He turned to Jo and enveloped her in a hug. "Thank you," he whispered to her hair. "Thank you."

"I nearly killed him, Carter," Her face was pale and sweat-dampened, and the horror hadn't left her. "He could have died."

"But he didn't," Carter said firmly. "Now we just need to get him back to GD and figure out how this happened and how to fix it."

She nodded weakly.

"You should get some rest first, though. Go home and sleep for a couple hours, if you like," he said, glancing at Zane. "And, um, nice bra, by the way."

With a smirk, he headed for the door of his car, and a minute later, he was making a u-turn on the road and heading back to GD, lights flashing.

"Wow," Zane watched the car go. "I hate to tell you this, Lupo, but I think the sheriff just gave us permission to go back to your place and, uh, engage in some adult recreation.*

"The sheriff just saw me in my underwear," Jo said. "That really kills the mood."

"I can get it started it again," Zane offered, a wicked glint in his eye.

"No, you can't," Jo said firmly. "I'm going to go get my stuff and then I'm going back to GD." She headed for the woods, and then turned back to Zane. "Um, but could I get a ride?"

Zane grinned at her. "Yep."

_*This reference is borrowed from an outtake on the Season 2 DVD, which—if you are Jo/Zane obsessed—is a nicely hot ten seconds, worth trying to find the DVD._


	10. Chapter 10

**Scene 10**

The wolf was curled up in an impossibly small ball, nose tucked under tail, sound asleep.

"You're sure, Jack?" Alison sounded doubtful. She, Jo, Fargo, and Carter were standing in one of GD's large animal labs while Henry and Dr. Glenn worked quietly behind them. Two walls of the lab were glass, giving them views into the adjacent rooms, which were animal enclosures, one of which was currently serving as the wolf's temporary home.

"Sure? No," Carter shook his head. "But I'm sure that Kevin couldn't have been kidnapped. And I'm sure that the search team covered every possible inch of a reasonable search radius. And I'm sure that this wolf had a weird reaction to a drug that shouldn't have bothered it. And right now, that's all I've got to go on."

Alison lifted her face to him. "I want my son back," her voice was barely a whisper. "I want Kevin back." Her face was strained and set, her eyes heavy with the tears that she would not let fall.

Carter put his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her closer. He dropped a kiss on her hair. "I know. We'll get him back. We will. I promise."

"Shouldn't he have changed back when the sun came up?" Fargo asked. "What?" he added when they both looked at him. "Werewolves, full moons, right? The moon goes down, the wolf goes back to being human."

"Fargo, there's no such thing as werewolves," Jo said firmly.

"If this is Kevin, then it's some GD experiment gone wrong. And unless you can explain why the moon would have an effect on DNA, then I think we can call that part of the story superstition," Carter agreed.

"Well, there is a theory about a biological tidal effect. That idea is that the gravitational pull of the moon can actually affect the water in our cells, which might cause a range of illnesses."

"Fargo, that theory is purely speculative. There's no solid research that proves anything of the kind." The intellectual challenge had pulled Alison away from her worry for a moment.

"There is research indicating that some animal behavior changes during the full moon," Dr. Glenn's voice was preoccupied, as if the conversation had only a small part of her attention. Her head was down over her tablet, staring intently at the information on her screen, as she tapped through information screens with a stylus.

"Henry, this is so strange." She lifted her head and crossed to where Henry was sitting in front of a screen. "This DNA is unlike anything I've seen before."

"Yes, the computer's not been able to match it either. But it's definitely not the DNA of a grey wolf."

Carter stepped forward. "More importantly right now, does the DNA you got from the wolf match the DNA of the blood and the fur that we found in Kevin's room?"

"Oh, yes," nodded Dr. Glenn. "They're a definite match. That's a nice easy job. Trying to figure out the rest of it is going to be the hard part." She rubbed her forehead. "I'm not even sure where to begin," her voice trailed off as she returned to staring intently at her screen and the information that was scrolling up it.

"That's good, that's really good. That means we know that this wolf was in Kevin's room. That's the first step. Second step…" Carter was thinking hard. He turned to Fargo. "I know. We have to start with finding the scientist who did this. So Fargo, what did you find?"

"I…nothing," said Fargo, glancing uncertainly at Dr. Glenn.

"That didn't sound like nothing, Fargo," Jo said suspiciously. She knew Fargo well enough to know when he was trying to slide out of something uncomfortable.

"There's only one project that I could find that might…well, could conceivably, maybe, possibly be used for something like this," the pitch of Fargo's voice was getting progressively higher with each successive word.

"So what is it?" demanded Alison.

"Dr. Glenn's project?" Fargo said tentatively, and promptly cringed.

Dr. Glenn looked up in surprise. "My project?"

Fargo held his hands up defensively, "Your project is just a little out there. I didn't know whether it might have other applications."

"Out there? Do you even understand what it does?" Dr. Glenn's soft voice was beginning to rise.

"Well…no. Not really," Fargo admitted, his voice not quite squeaking with guilt.

"Gizmo is an immune system booster. It's a medicine, not a, not a biological weapon!"

"Gizmo?" asked Fargo.

"My gamma interferon zoological molecular optimization project—it's designed to heal animals, not turn people into monsters!" Dr. Glenn's face was flushing with her anger. "I'm a vet, not a lunatic!"

Carter's head swiveled to look at Fargo. "A lunatic vet," he repeated. "Is that what we're looking for? A lunatic vet?"

"Taggart," Jo, Henry, and Fargo all said the name simultaneously with differing tones of realization, exasperation, and resignation.

"Taggart?" asked Dr. Glenn. "Dr. Jim Taggart? He has done some incredible work with wolves. His study in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Veterinary Medicine was very impressive. But he's in Alaska at the moment, isn't he?"

Carter was shaking his head. "He's in town. But how do we find him?"

Jo had already pulled out her phone, and was calling. "He always camps," she said, as the phone was ringing. "We can check some of his usual places, but that might take a while." She paused and listened, obviously to a voice mail message.

"Tag, call when you get this message, please." She hung up.

"Okay," Carter ran his hand though his hair. "We can start checking any places that we know he's stayed. I can get Andy to drive out to every place you know."

Jo was gazing at her phone thoughtfully. "Maybe we can use the GPS in his phone," she said. "That would at least find us his campsite, and he's bound to come back there eventually."

"We'd have to get an order from a judge to get the wireless company to triangulate the signal," Carter replied. "We can start working on it, but it takes hours and there's no guarantee—judges can be sticky when there's no legal cause and no emergency."

"Um, well, there is a faster way. Zane has an app on his phone that we could use."

"An app?" asked Fargo.

Jo looked uncomfortable. "It's a GPS tracker. If we give him the phone number, he can find the phone."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Technically, yes," Jo looked even more uncomfortable. "But it would be really useful right now." She glanced at Carter.

He looked exasperated. "Really, Jo? Really? I think Zane's corrupting you."

"It won't be the first time we've gotten his help," said Fargo. "Let's do it."

"Jack, we have no idea what this is doing to Kevin," Alison said. "The sooner we find Taggart and find out how to fix it, the better."

Carter shook his head and sighed. "All right, I'll go get a location from Zane."

"I'll come with you," Dr. Glenn said absently. "He's still working on that Skycruiser thing, right? That's right across from my lab. I want to take a look at some of my notes."

"I'll wait here," said Alison, turning back to the glass and gazing at the wolf.

Henry brought up a new screen on his display and frowned at it. "I'll keep working on this." Fargo looked over his shoulder.

Jo said nothing. She watched Carter and Dr. Glenn go and still said nothing, tapping her foot nervously. She glanced at Fargo and Henry and sighed.

Fargo looked back at her. "Go," he said.

She looked at him questioningly.

"You should at least apologize to him for ratting him out to Carter. You know Carter's going to keep his phone or delete the app or something. At the very least, you can cut the lecture short."

Jo bit back a smile. "Okay," she said. "Thanks, Fargo." Turning away, she hurried out the door.

Fargo shook his head. "Goopy," he sighed. "Hey, is that a protein inhibitor on that strand?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Scene 11**

"So, Sheriff Carter, it seems like quite an amazing intuitive leap to find some fur and think werewolf," observed Emily Glenn as they walked through the GD hallway.

"Too much time spent watching bad movies on television, I guess," Carter gave a wry grin, as he pushed open the door to the Skycruiser lab. He and Dr. Glenn took several steps into the lab and then Carter paused. Dr. Glenn started to move forward, and he put his hand out to hold her back.

Something was wrong. He could feel it. "Zane?" he called out cautiously.

A low growl was the only response.

"Aw, hell," Carter rolled his eyes.

Dr. Glenn held very still.

Out from under a desk, a black wolf paced, its gaze ferocious, its growl growing in intensity.

"Hey, Carter, is—" Jo stepped into the lab. "Damn," she said, taking in the situation at a glance. "He did get bit earlier. And then he gave Kevin mouth-to-mouth, which meant more saliva exposure. We should maybe have wondered about how contagious this was."

"Stay back, Jo, he's dangerous." Carter didn't take his eyes off the snarling wolf. His lips were pulled back, teeth bared, and the black fur was raised along his shoulders and back. His claws scrabbled at the tile floor as he tried to circle away.

"No, he's not. He's just scared." Jo pushed in front of Carter and Dr. Glenn.

Emily looked uncertainly at Carter, and then backed a few steps closer to the door. "She may be right," she said. "Wolves don't usually attack human beings and since we may not be able to safely sedate this one, we might want to try to calm him down."

"It's not a wolf, it's a werewolf! We have no idea what it might do," Carter burst out.

"It's neither, it's Zane, and he's not going to hurt me. Now back out of here and let me deal with him." Jo's voice was firm, but then switched to a soft croon, as she dropped to her knees in front of the pacing black wolf.

"If he kills you, Jo, I'm going to be really pissed off," said Carter and he and Dr. Glenn backed hurriedly out of the room.

From the door of the lab, they watched, while the wolf stopped pacing. His hackles started to drop and his snarl became half-hearted. His lips dropped down over his teeth, and he took a couple of cautious sniffs of the air, lifting his head.

"It's okay, Zane, it's okay," crooned Jo, stretching out her hand to him.

The wolf yipped, the sound a complaint and an alarm.

"I know this is bad. I know you probably don't understand. But it's me and you trust me, and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you," she continued. "It's going to be okay. Dr. Glenn is going to fix you up."

The wolf paced, stiff-legged, a little closer. It bent and sniffed her outstretched hand.

Cautiously, Jo turned her hand, so that it was palm up. She reached under his chin and started tentatively stroking the thick fur, letting her hand slide up and around until she'd reached the soft spot behind the ear, where she started to rub.

The wolf leaned into the caress, letting his eyes half-close for a moment, and then turned his head and began trying to lick her hand.

"None of that," said Jo gently, pushing his muzzle away. "Last thing I need is to turn into a wolf myself."

She looked into the wolf's eyes. They were as blue as the man's, but she couldn't tell from them whether somehow Zane was in there, understanding her words, or whether his understanding was gone, lost in the size of a wolf's brain and body. "I need to find your phone," she said to him. "We think Taggart might be responsible for this and I want to use your GPS app to find him."

The wolf cocked his head to one side as if he was trying to make sense of what she'd said.

"Okay," she sighed. "You can't really understand me. Look for the phone, Carter," she called over her shoulder.

"Is he going to attack me if I come in?" Carter carefully entered, keeping one eye on the wolf while he scanned for the phone. "His pants are over here. I'll check the pockets. Aha, got it. Uh, but I've got no idea how to use it."

"Bring it to Fargo. He'll figure it out," Jo said, still gazing steadily at Zane, who was gazing equally steadily back at her. "Oh, and you need the password. It's 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"

"Lovely," said Carter sarcastically.

"Hey, he didn't make it up."

"Okay, so what are we going to do about him?" asked Carter.

"How much do you think he understands, Ms. Lupo?" asked Dr. Glenn.

"No idea," Jo shrugged.

"Well, let's try to get him into one of the labs that's a little safer, while Sheriff Carter finds Taggart. I'll go get a dog kennel and we can use it to move him to the lab next to the one Kevin's in."

Carter left to find Fargo while Jo and Dr. Glenn tried to get Zane into a dog kennel. He refused utterly. He couldn't be bribed with food, couldn't be tricked, and couldn't be pushed. After twenty-five minutes, he started growling again.

"Cut it out, Zane," Jo snapped.

He whined anxiously, and paced to the door of the Skycruiser's lab. He looked back over his shoulder at Jo.

Head on one side, Dr. Glenn regarded him. "I think he's saying he'll be good," she offered.

Jo sighed. "I'm supposed to be in charge of security. I think that conflicts with letting a werewolf loose in the hallway."

Dr. Glenn shrugged. "He's not really a wolf, you know. The DNA's wrong for it. Let's pretend he's a guard dog instead."

Jo thought about that one for a minute. "Okay," she finally said, "but I'm also going to get security to clear the hallways. We'll try just walking him upstairs."

Ten minutes later, they were safely established in the enclosure next to Kevin's. The wolf was pacing, sniffing every corner.

"We'll get him some food and water, and then we can leave him here for now," Jo stretched. It had been a while since she'd done an all-night hike, and she was tired. While Zane was exploring, she stepped through the door and pulled it closed behind her.

The howling started immediately. The sound of a heavy weight hitting the door started almost immediately. "Uh, Jo," said Dr. Glenn, "I don't think that's going to work."


	12. Chapter 12

**Scene 12**

Andy had found Taggart, sound asleep on top of a sleeping bag, his phone only a few feet away with the ringer set to vibrate. Carter was waiting impatiently by the door of GD for them to arrive, when Zoe burst through the door.

"Dad," she said urgently. "I heard what happened to Kevin. Is he okay?"

"Oh, great," said Carter. That was not news that he'd wanted widely disseminated. A story about werewolves would spread through Eureka like wildfire. "How did you hear?"

"Vincent, of course."

"Did he know about Zane, too?"

"Zane?" Zoe asked, shocked.

"I guess that answers that," Carter said wryly. "They're in the animal labs down the hall from the infirmary, and Alison could probably use your company. Go."

Zoe nodded, eyes wide, and headed into GD.

Carter paced, looking worried. But it was only a few minutes later that Andy and Taggart finally arrived.

"Thank God you're here," Carter turning and falling into step beside them. "Just tell me this, do you know what's happened, and did you do it?"

Taggart grimaced, "The moment Jo mentioned werewolves at dinner last night, I knew there was trouble. So yes, and yes, although not intentionally. If I'd had any idea that this could happen, I would have stayed in Alaska. Fewer people there. A lot less chance that the wolf would accidentally stumble upon one who was injured."

"The wolf?" asked Carter, as they quickly walked toward the labs. "Aren't you the wolf?"

"Sort of," Taggart shrugged. "The wolf's instincts are very strong and they're tough to resist. I can still think like a human—I knew that Kevin was injured, and that he shouldn't move until his neck and back were checked out—but a wolf's instinct is to lick an injury. Of course, I didn't expect that the virus would be so contagious, either. It shouldn't be." He shook his head. "I don't know what went wrong."

"So it's a virus?" asked Carter, grabbing onto the most important piece of information. "How do we cure it?"

Just then, they arrived at the lab. Andy followed them in. Zoe was standing silently in front of the glass wall separating the lab from the enclosures, while Alison, Henry, Fargo and Dr. Glenn were clustered around a computer monitor, arguing over something on the screen.

"It's not that easy," said Taggart, looking through the glass.

"Well, it must be," said Carter. "You're not a wolf anymore. Can't you just change Kevin and Zane back the way you changed back?"

"No, that won't work," Taggart said absently. "So, uh, when did _that_ happen?" he asked.

Carter glanced where he was looking. _Uh-oh_. "When did Zane turn into a wolf, you mean?" asked Carter, hoping that was the question.

"Not that," Taggart shook his head. "That," he said pointedly.

There was no need to explain what "that" was—on the other side of the glass, Jo was sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of her, leaning back against the wall. Her eyes were closed and she looked exhausted. The black wolf had collapsed onto his side next to her, head resting on her leg as she stroked him, curling her fingers into the thick fur. The intimacy was unmistakable. It wasn't a scene of a woman sitting next to a strange dog; it was love made manifest.

"I was just asking myself the same question," Zoe glared at Carter.

Carter looked away, a pained expression on his face. "I tried to tell you."

"Not well enough," snapped Zoe. But then she frowned, "You did mention Jo when I first told you I was interested in Zane. And then I told you they hated each other. I guess maybe not so much, huh?" She glanced back, a little sadly, at the scene in the other room.

"Oh, I think they have moments when they hate each other." Carter looked through the glass. "And then, yeah, not so much."

Taggart sighed, "I knew this morning," he said, slightly mournfully.

"Did you see them at Café Diem?" Zoe asked. "I saw them coming out. Jo had Zane's helmet and they were laughing. I thought then…"

"Nah, I saw them up in the woods. I'm afraid I might have done this to Zane then, although inadvertently. I was trying to get their attention. I'd spent hours trying to get Kevin close enough to Jo so that she could tranquilize him and get him home safely. I am so truly sorry about this whole thing."

"It's okay, as long as you can fix it," said Carter.

Taggart sighed. "That's, I'm sorry, the bad news."

"What do you mean?" asked Alison. She'd turned away from the computer monitor, and at her words, so did the other scientists.

"I developed a cure before I tested the virus," Taggart said. "I brought a sample with me. I added it to food, so once I eat the food, I change back into myself." He passed a plastic bag of what looked like kibble over to Henry.

"Great, then we can just give the food to Kevin and Zane," said Carter.

Taggart was shaking his head. "I based it on my DNA. The antiviral restores the DNA; it returns me to myself, but it won't work on someone else."

"Weird," said Fargo, fascinated. "Would it turn Kevin and Zane into clones of you?"

"I doubt it." Taggart looked sadly at Alison. "I think it will just kill them."

"Oh." Fargo lost his enthusiasm. "That would be bad."

"But if you made the virus once, we can make another version—well, two versions—using Kevin and Zane's DNA. We've got their DNA in the GD database." Henry saw a possible solution.

Taggart closed his eyes, as if in pain. "We could, yes," he said. "But we won't have time."

"What does that mean?" Carter asked.

"I couldn't be sure that the wolf would eat the food, so I built a cure into the virus. It works like a time limit. When the virus reaches a certain level, it reverts the DNA. To my DNA."

"But that will kill Kevin!" It was a cry of pain that burst from Alison's mouth. She held her hand over her mouth as if to stop other words from escaping.

"What's the time limit?" Carter was the one to ask.

"It'll vary depending on metabolism and the progression of the virus. Basically, you could think of this as an illness and it's a matter of how sick one gets and how severely. The speed of the process won't be the same in every case. "

"Taggart," Alison said firmly, regaining control of herself. "Specifics. How much time are we talking about?"

Taggart looked miserable. "When did Kevin change?" he asked.

"Around 8 last night," Carter answered.

"So it took him about twelve hours," said Taggart. "He has until about 8 tomorrow morning." It was as if the words were dragged out of him, and he couldn't look at Alison.

"What a minute," said Zoe. "You said Zane was exposed this morning. How long does he have?"

"Do you know when he changed?" Taggart asked. His eyes were on the ground. He couldn't look at any of them.

"I think we found him at around 10:30," Dr. Glenn answered.

"Then he has, at most, until about 8 tonight."

As if drawn by magnets, all eyes looked toward the glass wall. Whether Jo had seen through the glass that Taggart had arrived or had just decided for some reason of her own that enough was enough, she was trying to leave and Zane was stubbornly not letting her. She was standing, hands on her hips, arguing with him, while he blocked the door. While they watched, he lay down directly in front of the door, still fully blocking it. When she continued to scold him, he rolled over, again still blocking the door, but with his belly and neck exposed to her. With a sigh of exasperation, she sat down cross-legged on the ground next to him. The words "you are so damn annoying" were faint, but said loudly enough to penetrate the glass.

"Oh, lord," said Taggart. "This is going to break her heart," and the tears began to stream down his face.

_A/N: Okay, I know I kind of suck at writing Taggart—his voice is really hard! But he does cry pretty easily, so please at least forgive the last part. It's not just melodramatic, he really would cry. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Scene 13**

"She won't kill you, Taggart," said Zoe. She was watching Jo and the wolf Zane through the glass window.

"I don't think that makes me feel better," Taggart replied.

"Yeah, maybe it shouldn't. But it means you have to let go of feeling guilty about this and figure out how to save him instead." Zoe finally turned her eyes away from the glass in order to pinion Taggart with her gaze.

Alison, Fargo, and Henry were clustered around a computer terminal, arguing fervently as they tried to figure out how to modify the virus to save Zane and Kevin. Carter and Andy were standing nearby, looking almost as helpless as they felt. Dr. Glenn was sitting motionless in front of another terminal, looking completely lost in thought. And Taggart and Zoe were standing in front of the glass, watching Jo and Zane.

"I wish I had any ideas," Taggart groaned.

"Are you letting that," Zoe's tone made it clear that she was referring to the relationship, whatever it was, between Jo and Zane, "block you?"

"I love her," Taggart said honestly. "Which means I want her to be happy. And—much as I hate to admit it—he could make her happy."

"Why?" asked Zoe. "I mean I think so, too. You see them together and it's so obvious, like nobody could have missed it. But we all did. So, why is he going to make her happy?"

Taggart gazed at Jo, who was talking earnestly to the black wolf, as if it understood every word. "She's obeyed orders from the day she went to West Point. Maybe even before. He's probably never obeyed an order in his life. I think…well, I would have liked to have helped her to be freer, and I couldn't do it. I think maybe he can." He closed his eyes and a look of unutterable pain crossed his face. "Or he could have if he wasn't going to die tonight."

"Okay, so think, Taggart," The words were an order. "How can you save him?"

"This is really quite ingenious," murmured Dr. Glenn, turning away from her computer and towards Taggart, interrupting Zoe. "How did you handle the spread, though? I mean a virus doesn't usually attack all the cells of the body at once."

Taggart turned to Dr. Glenn with relief. He dropped into techno-babble that was so far above Zoe's pre-med level that she was lucky if she understood one word in three.

In the background, Alison's voice raised, "We have to take the chance."

"Alison, it won't work," Henry's voice was raised in turn. "We'll take any chance we have to, but there's no point in trying something that's doomed to failure."

"What about the cryogenics lab?" Fargo suggested. "I know there are risks, but it could buy us some time."

"No, that's a death sentence," Alison was adamant.

"Are you okay?" Carter's voice was quiet, his hand on Zoe's shoulder warm.

"Not so much, Dad." She looked through the glass, at Kevin, alone and still asleep in his enclosure and at Jo and Zane in the other. "I mean it's really weird to think that that's Kevin in there. I've been wondering if he might wind up being my stepbrother, and now I've got to think that maybe he's going to die instead."

Carter put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "We're going to figure it out, Zoe. We are."

"But what if we don't?" Zoe looked up at her father's face. "What if?"

"We're going to figure it out, Zoe. We are. We always do."

"That won't work." It was Alison's turn to yell.

"What if we…" Henry shook his head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we might have as much as 20 hours left for Kevin. If we gave up on Zane, would we have time to re-engineer the virus for Kevin?"

"No," Zoe stepped forward. "You can't. That's…no."

Carter shook his head. "No, no, no. The only reason that Kevin is alive right now is because Zane saved his life this morning. We can't just ignore that."

Alison bit her lip and for the first time through this entire ordeal a tear overflowed her eye and ran down her face. She turned away from all of them.

"No," said Fargo firmly. "And I'll make that an order from the director of GD if I have to. We're saving both of them. Let's focus on how."

"But what medium did you use?" Dr. Glenn appeared to have ignored the entire conversation—she was entirely focused on Taggart, her pale cheeks flushed with pink, her eyes alight with the glow of discovery. He started showing her something on the computer, borrowing her keypad to call up some information on the screen.

"What about the polymer activation synthesis project?" asked Fargo. "Could we use that to create some kind of immune reaction?"

"Not fast enough," Henry shook his head. "It might work in three weeks or so, but…"

"What about some other kind of antiviral? Can we create a virus that would attack this virus?" Alison suggested.

"In the time we have? Only if there's some obvious weakness in this virus." Henry shook his head. "Taggart might know."

"Taggart? Taggart?" Alison demanded. Taggart and Dr. Glenn were talking animatedly. Dr. Glenn's hands were gesturing fluidly and her face was animated, even excited. The calm, soft-spoken, gentle vet was gone, leaving a passionate scientist in her place. "We need your help," Alison said, when she'd finally gotten Taggart's attention. "We don't have much time, so please pay attention."

"I'm sorry," Taggart was immediately apologetic.

"But I need him," said Dr. Glenn. "This is important."

"Nothing is more important than my son's life," Alison snapped.

"Right," Dr. Glenn narrowed her gaze. "Which is why I need to know how Dr. Taggart solved the distribution problem. So back off."

Alison looked as shocked as if a turtle had just slapped her.

"Show me," said Dr. Glenn to Taggart. He clicked through a few screens on her computer display, and explained the details.

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay." She closed her eyes and immediately became lost in thought.

"Wow," whispered Fargo. "Even the mildest-mannered scientists at GD can go crazy."

Alison shook her head and glared at the oblivious Dr. Glenn. "Maybe we can create a virus that will slow down the progress of the other virus," she suggested.

"That's just as bad as cryogenics," said Henry. "We don't want to kill them while trying to save them."

The trio continued to argue about approaches for the next several minutes, while Taggart looked miserable, Carter and Andy listened helplessly, and Zoe watched Dr. Glenn.

At last, Dr. Glenn opened her eyes. "Thank you so much," she said to Taggart, her voice effusive with delight.

"Um, for what?" he asked, but it was too late, she was already leaving the lab. Zoe frowned. She wasn't sure whether to follow Dr. Glenn or to wait. GD scientists could be touchy but…decision made, Zoe dashed out of the lab and chased after Dr. Glenn.

"Hey," Zoe said, catching up to Dr. Glenn in the elevator. "Did you figure it out?"

Dr. Glenn nodded, glowing with excitement. "I'm headed down to my lab to create my first gizmo solution. Dr. Taggart's distribution method will work for gizmo, too."

"Ah, gizmo?" Zoe asked, curiously. She hadn't heard the term before.

"Gamma interferon zoological molecular optimization," Dr. Glenn said obediently, and then she laughed. "Ignore the name. It's an immune system booster. If I understand Dr. Taggart's virus correctly, gizmo should have no problem killing off the virus before it has a chance to revert the DNA. And because it's actually killing the virus, all the symptoms should be resolved." She looked at Zoe to see if she understood, and then added kindly, "Being a wolf is a symptom. Once the virus is killed, both Zane and Kevin should be back to themselves."

"Just like that?" asked Zoe, impressed.

"I hope so," Dr. Glenn bounced a little. "Dr. Taggart's achievement is amazing, really. But this piece of it—well, it's the problem I've been working on for months. I can't tell you how exciting this is. I've been stuck on this part of my research for so long…and suddenly not only do I have a solution, I get to test it right away."

Zoe grinned. She was totally in favor of people who were excited about saving the lives of her friends. "Can I help you make it?"

"Oh, sure. It won't even be that hard." Dr. Glenn looked at her watch. "With any luck, we'll have saved their lives before the cafeteria closes for lunch." She looked suddenly shy, "Do you think Dr. Taggart might like to go out to dinner?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Scene 14**

Zane's dark eyelashes fluttered a few times before his eyes opened.

Zoe smiled, a little wistful. Dang, but he was cute.

"Hey, there," she said quietly from her seat at the foot of his bed.

"Zoe?" he asked groggily. He shook his head, slightly. "Wow, weird dreams."

"Not so much," she patted his leg. "You made a very cute wolf."

She watched the emotions flicker across his face as he started to sit up and then lay back; realization, surprise, and then an automatic flirtatiousness that she now saw for the defense that it was. "Well, better a cute wolf than an ugly one, I guess."

"Yeah, I would have loved to have you as a pet." She let the pause linger long enough to make him wonder and then added, pointedly, "If you weren't already taken."

He raised his eyebrows, and she gazed at him evenly. He grimaced and closed his eyes. "That's not…" he let the words trail off. A denial would be a lie; an acknowledgment would be an emotional risk that he wasn't sure he was ready to take.

"You should have told me, Zane." The words were a reproof.

He opened his eyes and sighed with exasperation. "Told you what, exactly? Told you—," he shrugged, spreading his hands up and out, as if he was trying to encompass the incredibly complicated and unwieldy story that was his current relationship with Lupo.

"The cop and the criminal," she said thoughtfully as she smiled at him. "It's very romantic, really. I'm sorry if I got in the way."

He let his hands drop and looked at her. "Romantic?" he shook his head. "No. Annoying, yes. Frustrating, irritating, maddening..."

"Romantic," Zoe repeated softly, amused.

"Captivating…" he added with reluctance. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned his head just in time to see Jo backing quickly out of the doorway. "Ah, hell."

Zoe turned to look. She looked back at him inquiringly. "Jo?"

He nodded and then smiled ruefully. "Story of the day. Always something goes wrong." He tried to push himself up to try to chase after her, but collapsed back on the bed. "Why do I feel so horrible?"

"Dr. Glenn thought it would probably be like recovering from a really bad bout of the flu. It'll take a while." Zoe eyed him, and then grinned. "Let's see if I can make it better." Hopping off the foot of the bed, she hurried away.

"Jo," she called as she went through the doorway.

"Ah, hey, Zoe," Jo pushed herself away from the wall. She'd seen Zoe sitting there with Zane, the reverse of the position they'd been in after Zoe had been almost petrified, and it had been like having a combat flashback, where suddenly she wasn't sure where or when she was, and all she could do was concentrate on breathing, one breath after another until she could move forward again. This hurt too much and it kept on hurting. She needed to stay away from Zane, as far away as possible, until it stopped.

"I'm really pissed at you, Jo," Zoe said cheerfully.

"What?" The words and the tone didn't match. Jo didn't understand. She shook her head as if to clear her ears. It wasn't as if Zoe didn't have some right to be mad: there had been that sunrise kiss this morning, which had gotten pretty heated. Well, and the kiss the time before that in her office. And the kiss the time before that, too. But still, Jo was pretty sure that she had done the best she could to stay out of Zoe's way. And in her exhaustion and her pain, Zoe's words just didn't make sense. "What?" she repeated.

"Zane's cute. He's smart. He's funny. And he's a whole lot nicer than people give him credit for. But he's just a guy."

Jo was still looking confused, so Zoe continued. "All you had to do was say, 'mine, hands off.' Instead you let me hurt you. And you have to know that I would never hurt you on purpose. Never. So I'm pissed at you, Jo, that you let me hurt you without even telling me that I was doing it."

"He's not mine," Jo said automatically, picking the one thing out of Zoe's words that did make sense.

"Yeah, nice try. Way too late for that," Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Zoe, I—" Jo looked helplessly at the younger girl, who suddenly seemed so grown-up.

"I'm fine, Jo. And if you're staying away from him for me, you can stop, because I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole now."

Jo was still confused, and Zoe finally sighed in exasperation. "All right," she said. "I'm forgiving you because you are so out of it." She took Jo by the shoulders, turned her around gently, and pointed her in the direction of Zane's bed.

"Walk in there," Zoe said firmly, "and don't stop until you figure it out." She gave Jo a gentle push.

Obediently, Jo walked and kept walking until she reached the side of Zane's bed. His eyes were open, and he watched her every step of the way, his face solemn.

Suddenly shy, she asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty lousy, actually."

"Can I get you anything?" she offered. "Is there anything you'd like?"

"Oh, I think you know what I'd like, Jo-jo. I think I've been pretty clear about that," he said. "The question is, what would you like?"

"What would I like?" said Jo. She looked at him and for a moment, the enormity of the question struck her. _I'd like to go home_, she thought. _I'd like our history back. I'd like you to know me the way you used to._ But then she realized how much she would hate to lose these memories, how sad it would be if she was with a Zane who hadn't been there saving the town from exploding from too much oxygen generation, who'd never been a wolf falling asleep on her lap, who didn't remember that sunrise kiss in the woods. And she knew that although she truly loved her Zane, she also loved this Zane who was a little tougher, but also a little more vulnerable, a little angrier but also a little less sure of himself.

"You know," she said slowly. "I'm really, really tired. I've been awake for way too long, and right now, what I'd really like is for you to move over and let me fall asleep next to you."

Zane paused. He shook his head—that was so not what he was expecting. Finally, he chuckled, and leaned back against his pillow. "That can be arranged." He shoved the sheet back and opened his arm. Jo kicked off her shoes, climbed onto the bed next to him and snuggled down. For a minute she just relaxed into his warmth, into the comfort of being next to him.

"You know the only reason I'm not arresting you for your little GPS tracker?" she asked drowsily.

"Um, because you used it yourself?"

"Nope, although it did come in handy." Jo pushed herself up on his chest and gazed down at him, wonderingly. "Because you gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dog."

"I think it was a wolf, technically," he protested mildly, running his hand along her hair, and then pulling out the hair band so that it fell in a curtain around them.

"I knew it was really Kevin and mouth-to-mouth didn't even occur to me," Jo lay back down, tucking her head next to his neck.

"So I save one wolf's life and you decide I can be trusted?"

Jo lifted her head again so she could look him in the eyes. "Not exactly," she answered, amused. "You saved one kid's life by giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dog, and I decided that you were insane. And insanity's a reasonable defense for pretty much everything you do."

Zane laughed. "Not for this, Josephina," he said, and sliding his hand around the back of her head, pulled her to him until their lips met in a long, slow, lingering kiss.

*** THE END***

_A/N Thank you all so much for joining me on this ride. I've had an incredibly good time writing this story, and your reviews have been wonderful icing on the cake. It's given me great pleasure to know that you cared how it was going! _

_A few technical notes: the marauder's map app is completely feasible although totally illegal. It could exist but doesn't. It is possible to give mouth-to-mouth to a dog, but Zane got the timing wrong—if you ever need to, breathe once every five seconds, not every three. Etorphine and diprenorphine __are in fact a real vet sedative used in tranquilizer guns and its antidote, and yes, etorphine kills humans by depressing respiration. The convulsions were just for dramatic effect, though, and the Manning X42 was just a random name for a sedative gun that would only fire one dart at a time. Plus, you probably wouldn't use etorphine on a wolf—it's really for bigger animals. Gamma interferon is actually usually said the other way around (ie interferon-gamma) but it is an immune system component and gizmo was an irresistible name. The complete DNA modification thing, though—total scientific garbage, but since the real Eureka did it first in "Your Face or Mine," I figured I could use it. _

_A few character notes: Emily Glenn is from "E=MC…" –I really liked her in it and always wished they'd bring her back. Taggart cries the most in "Duck, Duck Goose" but his character is, in general, hard to get a grip on. I meant to do much more with him but every minute of writer's block I had was when Taggart was on-stage so I kept resolving my block by not writing him. I'm sorry if I disappointed any Taggart fans! _

_Finally, I mentioned the Season 2 outtake—it really is no more than 10 seconds long, so don't get too excited. The best outtakes are actually in from "From Fear to Eternity" in Season 3 when Jo and Zane are stuck together, closely followed by "Your Face or Mine." The outtake on the latter has Zane saying "I love you" to Jo for the first time and it's much sweeter than the official first "I love you." _

_Thanks for reading!  
_


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